Early in the book of Joshua, a Canaanite named Rahab confessed her faith in the God of Israel to some Israelite spies (Josh. 2:8-11). She then asked that she and her household be spared the coming judgment of the conquest (2:12-13).
The spies told her, “Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you shall gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household” (Josh. 2:18).
So Rahab did. After the men left, she tied the scarlet cord in the window (Josh. 2:21), trusting and waiting.
This scarlet cord was consistently interpreted in the early centuries of Christian interpretation as signifying the cross of the Lord Jesus (see the writings of Justin Martyr, Origen, Augustine, Jerome, Clement, Irenaeus, and Ambrose).
Such an interpretation has caused no small amount of controversy for modern readers. First of all, there’s no clear prophecy in Joshua 2 to the future redemptive work of Jesus. Second, the color-connection of a “scarlet” cord and the red blood of Jesus is not a substantive correspondence. Third, no New Testament author connects the scarlet cord to the cross.
Those three points are valid but not decisive. I’m going to offer a cumulative case that argues for the scarlet cord of Rahab to be a type of Christ’s cross-work. Let’s notice how the episode with Rahab is meant to evoke the event of the exodus.
First, Rahab tells the spies, “For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt…” (Josh. 2:10). News of the Israelites’ departure from Egypt had reached the ears of Rahab and others.
Second, Rahab is expecting that when the Israelites come in full force to the land of Canaan, they will execute the conquest and subdue the Canaanites. We know she thinks this because she asks for her life and her family’s lives to be delivered “from death” (Josh. 2:13). She believes that those who resist the God of Israel will perish.
Third, Rahab asks for “a sure sign that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them” (Josh. 2:12-13). The “sure sign” will be the scarlet cord.
Fourth, the sign of deliverance must be placed “in the window” of her house (Josh. 2:18).
Fifth, those inside the cord-marked home would be spared, while those outside would perish (Josh. 2:19).
Sixth, Rahab responded in faith to what the spies told her and so marked her home by tying the “scarlet cord in the window” (Josh. 2:21).
These facts, taken cumulatively, are a loud echo of the exodus. The Israelites were to leave Egypt after the tenth plague, and this tenth plague was the judgment on firstborn sons. To be spared this judgment, the Israelites had to respond in faith to the Lord’s instructions. They needed to properly mark their homes. They were to place the blood of an unblemished lamb on the doorposts and the lintel of their houses (Exod. 12:5-7). Then, when the judgment of the Lord descended upon Egypt, the homes marked with the sign of deliverance would be spared (12:13).
When we read the story of Rahab in Joshua 2, we are meant to understand that story in light of the exodus backdrop. The scarlet thread recalls the blood of the unblemished lamb. The window in Rahab’s house recalls the doorposts and lintel of an Israelite home. Impending divine judgment was true for both Exodus 12 and Joshua 2. And in both stories, the designated sign meant deliverance for those inside.
These conceptual, textual, and structural connections between Exodus 12 and Joshua 2 confirm that we should read the Rahab’s scarlet cord typologically. The Passover lamb foreshadows the work of Christ on the cross (1 Cor. 5:7). Since the language in Joshua 2 recalls the tenth plague and the Passover lamb, the scarlet cord foreshadows the work of Christ as well. The scarlet cord is a Christological type, not because the cord and the cross share the same color but because the cord, like the cross, is an emblem of deliverance for all who are covered by it.
Do you know people who have gone back and forth about how to understand Rahab’s cord?
For more information about typological reading, see 40 Questions About Typology and Allegory.